Murphy's Pub

Murphy's Pub Dingle Reviews

On our fourth day in Kerry, Ireland, we decided to have a road trip in Dingle Peninsula. When night falls, it was time for dinner and we'd decided to dine in one of the restaurants in Dingle.

One restaurant had many awards but it was expensive (so if you got the urge to splurge, do so) and then there was another pub nearby. We decided to pop in but it was SO packed and we did read a review that it was good.

Anyway, we had to find a place to eat and checked out the TripAdvisor iPhone app (a website which guides travellers on many things), we stood outside Murphy's Pub and B&B. We wanted to find out more about this pub before stepping in. Some reviews were good (such as the food is fresh and rather cheap) and some were bad, really bad. Fine, we'd decided to take the chance and see for ourselves if the good/bad reviews were true or not.

One of the reviews stated that the Fish 'n Chips, the fish was fresh thus, it was one of the reasons why we ordered it (for each one of us). There were bad reviews such as the chips tasted bad and some said it was the worst Fish 'n Chips he/she had ever eaten. Some even said that the other fish dishes were overcooked. They said some of the staffs were really rude and et cetera. I guess you got the picture.

Another reason why we ordered it was because it was cheaper than the other mains. The place was packed, I know why because the prices aren't as high as the other restaurants/pubs. We were lucky to have a table for two available and sat there, looking through the menu and sadly to say, the beverage list was pathetic. Just the coffee drinks and that's it, no list of fizzy drinks or tea et cetera (you'll know what I mean when you check out the menu on their website, they scanned it). The menus were worn out (time to change them...), honestly to speak, I don't mind the worn out menus because all it matters to me was the price and the quality.

When we got our Fish 'n Chips, I saw my piece/fillet was slightly smaller than my boyfriend's. I tried to ignore it, probably one side of mine was thicker than his...The fish smelt weird, I could tell and the wasn't fresh. I didn't bother...or at least you can say, I was really hungry and that was my habit. Even if it isn't good, I'll still eat it as I don't really want to waste the food and will just stick to doing a review reflecting of the bad quality of the food. A spoilt fish wouldn't be flakey and it would smell really fishy but this one was flakey...the flesh broke easily but the smell and taste wasn't right. They should have used John Dory, you can never go wrong with that as it is fit for Fish 'n Chips. Perhaps it was where the fish was bred thus, explaining for the taste and smell it has?

Anyway, like I'd said...I usually wouldn't voice out much but do things silently. My boyfriend was different, he voiced out that he didn't like the Fish 'n Chips and he had already eaten a third of it (he was hoping that the other part of the fillet would taste better but he was wrong). Apparently, he found the fish smelling weird just like I did and he also claimed that he could smell the oil (which means the oil was dirty/over used and not changed). They changed to another new plate of Fish 'n Chips. It turned out to be the same, he didn't eat and had requested for a discount.

The dish cost 11,95 Euro and gave a 3 Euro discount on his dish (but he wasn't pleased with that amount) and of course mine as full since I finished it EXCEPT the HORRIBLE coleslaw. That disappointed me too, I like to eat coleslaw and a good coleslaw is supposed to be slightly sweet and sour but this, it tasted salty and overwhelmed with mayonnaise. It was really soggy and had lost its crunchy bite. The salad had a slice of cucumber, the slice of cucumber was from an OLD cucumber. When a cucumber is old, it becomes soft and loses its crunchiness.

To sum it all, the Fish 'n Chips didn't taste all that spectacular (moreover I found 8 pieces of fish bones in my fillet), the fries wasn't great and the salad with the coleslaw WASN'T fresh (as what they claimed to use FRESH ingredients).

The service was fine but I wouldn't say good or even great. Took quite some time to get one's attention even though they had many servers around. They were nice to change it to a new set but when he didn't like the second try, he said he would like a discount and told her that he didn't want to eat the rest. She took it away from him rudely...usually you would just leave the plate there until the customer leaves/when it is the next course. Before we left, she said to my boyfriend that it was nice having a chat with him. She might have put it in a 'nice' way but it was a sarcastic remark.

I will admit it that I did feel embarrassed at some point. He might give them a hard time but it is the quality that matters along with the price. How could you pay something cheap and get something not good? It doesn't mean that when you pay more means you get good or pay cheap and get something not so great.

It is rather a disappointment and I do know that I'd done up a harsh review about this place. This is just to let you be aware and try out others and don't waste a single cent/penny there (even if you found it cheap). Oh well, if you insist in stepping in and trying it out, that's OK...I hope they would improve and use dory fish instead.

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